


The Azerothian Codex

by Kaoupa



Series: Thoughts and Dreams (of Fanfics Yet To Come) [5]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Warcraft - All Media Types
Genre: Codex Entries, Not a Story, Post-World of Warcraft, Space Age Azeroth, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21609538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoupa/pseuds/Kaoupa
Summary: The people of Azeroth have been fighting for a very long time, and they've been living just on their homeworld for almost as long as they've been fighting, in most cases.They figured out a way so that the second fact was no longer true.Unfortunately, the first fact still was. (Even though they're really good at it by now).
Series: Thoughts and Dreams (of Fanfics Yet To Come) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861861
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Warcraft or Mass Effect.

Azeroth is a world of contradictions and curiosities.

One of the newest member states of the Citadel races, the Confederation of Azeroth contains more than three dozen different sapient species, from a variety of worlds and backgrounds and appearances, all united under a single banner. Hybrids between the various races - an event found nowhere else in the galaxy, save with the asari to a degree - while rare, are known enough that they mostly go unremarked upon.

Azeroth has a history that, under the supervision of the Dragonflights, stretches back for more than 100,000 years, with knowledge of magic from the many races combined allowing a depth and breadth of experience such that, when they first emerged into the galactic community, the knowledge of Azeroth matched or surpassed that of any other interstellar nation, despite their relative newness.

Despite this, with the exception of the race referred to respectively as “draenei” or “eredar”, who were known best for being the chief lieutenants of the Burning Legion when they were corrupted, and to a degree the residents of the Outlands/Draenor, before the last five decades no offworld expedition had ever taken place, even to places as relatively close as Azeroth’s moon (partly due to the night elves and high elves viewing the astral entity as a connection to the Lord of Light Elune).

Multiple Void Gods (called Old Gods on Azeroth itself, see related article) have been upon Azeroth for many thousands of years, and despite multiple invasions by the Burning Legion, the residents of Azeroth have fought them off each time successfully, with their last invasion attempt ending in disaster for the Legion, as the majority of its leaders were rendered permanently dead upon the eredar homeworld of Argus. With the exception of the Void God known as “N’Zoth", each of the aforementioned Void Gods on Azeroth has been rendered dead (as much as such beings can be dead).

While Azeroth’s people have rapidly spread through the cosmos, the many different terrains and preferences of the people on the surface have regardless led to many arguments and disagreements taking place between them over what planets to settle, or if they should settle other worlds at all. However, despite the endemic warfare taking place less than a century ago during the Era of Warcraft, a near-global dislike for active conflict has settled into Azerothian society (likely as a direct result of said conflicts).


	2. Old Gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Codex Entry: Old Gods.

_Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting. We already knew that Draenor and Azeroth both had these things, and we killed them, sure. I guess we never thought that just because they were_ our _problem, it didn't mean they weren't_ everyone else's _problem._

 _I mean, yes, that's fatalistic. But at the time we finally left Azeroth to settle other worlds more en masse, you have to remember, we'd been dealing with shit like this for years - and we never thought that anyone_ else _could have luck like ours._

Unknown Mercenary/"Adventurer".

The Enemies of all that Live. The Shadows of Death. The Avatars of the Void. The Blackeners of Body, Heart, and Soul. The Old Gods. The Rulers of the Night. The Abyssal Ones. The Orderbreakers. The Betrayers of Logic. The Faithful of the Dark. The Reapers of Life.

The chief enemies of intergalactic society, the beings commonly referred to as the “Old Gods” in Azerothian terms have a history dating back before recorded intergalactic history. Created by the entities referred to as the “Void Lords” outside the known universe, the Old Gods have been causing issues in one way or another for the entirety of that time.

The most common problem caused by the Old Gods is their underlings and servants - each Old God’s Void essence is capable of merging with the organic matter they are composed of and release, creating servant races that are typically subjected to their whispers from the start of their existence. While rehabilitation of the members of said races and the race itself is possible, this is typically only possible if their Old God is slain first. Needless to say, this is always an extremely tall order.

However, the Old Gods are not limited to their servant races in recruitment. Due to their status as living Void entities of enormous power, the Old Gods are capable of extremely subtle manipulation and whispers before resorting to simple Void corruption. Distance is the only true protection from an Old God, and it is possible for the servants of said Old God to use technology or magic to extend their ability to affect others to interstellar distances. Many simple-looking artifacts or objects found on worlds formerly host to the Black Empire have been traps left behind by them or their servants - traps that, more than once, were not discovered until it was too late. Entire worlds have, at times, needed years to recover from such events.

Lastly, befitting their titles and names, the Old Gods are extraordinarily powerful in terms of both magic and physical stature, with access to multiple branches and forms of magic, besides the Void magic that they are formed with, itself already extremely potent. Few combatants are capable of surviving the onslaught of an Old God in direct magical combat for even a limited time, even with extensive healing assistance. Less than ten beings in the entirety of known history, outside of the Titans and the Naaru, have been capable of matching an Old God directly in battle.

Many worlds both with and without life have often had an Old God planted on their surface by the Void Lords, in their attempts to destroy the universe. While many of the Old Gods are found and destroyed by Naaru, Titans, or the Citadel's forces before they can take over a world with life and become a problem, any Old God, even alone, remains a serious threat. It can take decades of work to remove the entirety of an free Old God's aftereffects on a world with intelligent life, even in circumstances where it is discovered quickly and killed with maximum precautions taken.

While numerous Old Gods have been slain by the combined efforts of the Citadel, the events leading up to such often took potentially years or decades of work, and took a heavy toll upon the invading forces. Part of the problem is also that many of the longest-surviving Old Gods have survived because they, unlike their more “Void-Drunk” brethren, are capable of realizing when the fight has been lost. More than a few times massive armies of elite combatants have fought their way through a world’s defenses, only to find out that their quarry has left before they arrived. While their efforts are always set back by such events, the Old Gods are nevertheless capable of, eventually, making up the difference with time if not found and stopped for good.


	3. The Fighting Ceases

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alliance and the Horde are finally not fighting.

Two of the most well-known organizations in Azeroth before the Unification of Azeroth, the Alliance and the Horde were the last major factions to join the Confederation, after the end of the Era of Warcraft.

Before the rise of the Confederation, at the time the Alliance and the Horde were the two superpowers on Azeroth, with member races from Azeroth, Draenor/The “Outlands”, and Argus. Due to a long history of warfare with each other, both sides were extremely resistant to the attempts of the Confederation to induct them, or sign a lasting peace treaty. While any large-scale attempts at warfare were shut down swiftly, both sides regularly sabotaged each other, spied on the opposing side’s settlements, and often, allowed those charged with murder of a combatant, or rarely, even a civilian of the opposing side to go unpunished.

At times, active warfare or small-scale skirmishes would break out between the two, all swiftly shut down by the Confederation, often with one side being ordered to permanently leave the area in question (such as the forced departure of the Alliance from Alterac Valley).

However, internal pressures eventually caused both of the two sides to agree to a ceasefire, with long-term efforts at reducing hostility eventually causing both sides to mostly stand down from their warfare. The majority of the internal efforts are often credited to the Houjin and Tushui pandaren of the Wandering Isle, as well as a vast anti-warfare/militarism campaign run by those who sympathized with them, led by Jaina Proudmoore and Go’el, former Warchief. Groups such as the Cenarion Circle, Earthen Ring, the Argent Crusade, and other notable neutral factions are given similar credit. The tauren of Thunder Bluff and Highmountain are also notorious for being the most outspoken of any race to end the conflict during this time period, a great contrast to their common reputation as calm and hard to rile.

Nowadays, while not forgotten, the tension between the races of the Alliance and the Horde has mostly been consigned to history, with the exception of the elvish races and the draenei (see “Uncorrupted Eredar/Draenei”). It mainly has been consigned to the annals of history, with the exception of several notable groups who attempt to stir up tensions between the various races of Azeroth. These groups are typically found and swiftly punished.

The end of the conflict between the two long-time enemies was a slow fizzle, rather than an explosive conclusion many had expected for several years beforehand.


	4. The pre-Awakening history of Azeroth.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Details the Rise of Azeroth after the end of the Era of Warcraft.

Azeroth’s early history began when the still-gestating world soul was found by the other Titans (see Pantheon) roughly 125,000 years before the present day. After a war against the forces of the Old Gods on the planet (and the Old Gods themselves were imprisoned), races and guardians were created and empowered in order to both live their lives and protect Azeroth itself and herself, with the expectation that their actions would one day influence Azeroth for the better, and that both they and she would help protect the universe.

It is theorized by many that the still-forming world-soul unconsciously “drew” the native species of Azeroth to stay on the planet itself during the process of formation, explaining the lack of spaceflight-era technology despite the many years of magical and technological development (as well as developments such as the mecha-suits/ “shredders” that are commonly used in both industrial and military applications and are rapidly spreading throughout Citadel space). While spaceflight/space-traversing technology and magic were not addressed or studied, every other field of magic and technology was often looked into heavily and extensively (however, this knowledge had a tendency of not spreading very far, due to the lack of communications between differing nation-states, preventing several different “mergers” of technology that came quickly to more unified planets).

Also, due to the still-gestating Azeroth being potentially the most powerful entity in the known universe, and also being known to the Burning Legion (particularly its leader, Sargeras the Fel Titan), multiple attempts were made by demonic forces, particularly the Burning Legion, to conquer the planet and kill all upon it to corrupt Azeroth. While only three full-scale invasions took place in Azeroth’s history (it should be noted that only the final incursion was a true mass-scale effort by the Legion), countless lesser attempts were made throughout history to slow the progress of the societies on Azeroth and promote infighting to lessen mortal resistance. Many cases have been recorded throughout Azeroth’s history of corrupt leaders or agents of the Burning Legion being discovered after starting civil wars, plagues, or other such disasters. 

Also, multiple records exist of the Old Gods upon Azeroth influencing history for their own dark ends, despite the Titan’s successfully confining them to their prisons and their later destruction, with the exception of the Old God N’Zoth, who fled Azeroth after the awakening of the world-soul. The races of mantid and nerubians all have been recorded as causing extensive issues for the races of Azeroth. At least half a dozen species native to Azeroth have nearly or completely ceased to exist directly or indirectly thanks to the efforts of either the Old Gods or the Burning Legion.

Most of the open fighting on Azeroth, as well as said agents of the Legion and Old Gods, were rooted out, killed, and replaced during the Era of Warcraft, which ended with most of the threats to the world rooted out, and three reigning superpowers over most of the world (the Confederation, the Alliance, and the Horde). Due to said lack of fighting, international cooperation at an all-time high, the massive amounts of repopulation and rebuilding that continue to take place, as well as the massive amounts of knowledge, magic, and technology that had been developed during said Era and before it that were now being shared freely, development from that point (referred to as "the Awakening") is seen by many as the Golden Age of the world of Azeroth, with advancement to the space age from a near-medieval era taking place faster than any other society in the known galaxy in the last 200,000 years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Several of the theories here are ones that I came up with myself/created for the sake of keeping the story somewhat believable, given the near-perpetual medieval era of Warcraft for the last several thousand years, and to make it somewhat believable compared to real-world development rates.


	5. Azeroth, the Titan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short (mostly-accurate) history of the titan, Azeroth.

The most-credited founder of the Confederation. The Earthmother. The Last Titan (an inaccurate title). Azeroth is perhaps the greatest force to shape galactic society in recent years, after the emergence of her and her many peoples onto the galactic stage.

The namesake of the planet (as well as a portion of the Eastern continent), whether Azeroth’s name gave the planet its name or the other way around is a subject of debate to this day.

Azeroth’s “Awakening” as it is termed, was one of the last events in the Era of Warcraft, taking place after the Invasion of Argus, that led to the freedom of the Titan Pantheon from the Fel Titan Sargeras (and his imprisonment at their hands, as well as the currently in-progress rehabilitation of Argus). However, most of the planet was unaware of Azeroth’s emergence at the time, as she did not immediately enter her full-sized “Titan mode”, as some have deemed it, instead interacting with the world through the Blessed, mortals who were empowered by small fragments of Azeroth’s power at various points in their lives. 

As well as this, Azeroth had projected an Avatar of herself to the surface, who was later found in the desert of Tanaris and took on the form of a sand troll infant. The still-infantile Azeroth was later brought to the city of Gadgetzan by a interracial troll couple who were later brought to the Isle of Zuldazar after being injured in a gang war, later deciding to move to the city of Dalaran for a safer environment. (See the League “of EVIL” and Galakrond for later details on Azeroth becoming known to the world at large after intervening in the battle with the interspecies confederation and their undead proto-dragon ally). 

Her Blessed and her Avatar were deliberately left without knowledge of the true nature of their boons, and were later enlightened to it after the full emergence of her “main” self thirty years later.

Several decades later, Azeroth was one of the main forces on the planet that shared her name, even before her Titan self fully emerged. All large-scale conflict between the denizens of Azeroth, such as major wars, had been ended due to the interventions of Azeroth herself, and most of the planet’s military had been formed into a united front, in order to combat the different threats on the planet from undead, demons, and the forces of the Void, as well as any offworld threats that they would encounter after their expansion into space began. 

They would find the last two in great abundance, to their sorrow. They would also find more allies against them, however - something that helped change the world for the better.

Azeroth’s main “self”, these days, mostly spends her time offworld, aiding the main forces of the Citadel in their battle with the Old Gods, as the main maker of new mass relays, and a “problem-solver” for worlds too heavily corrupted by the Void to be safely occupied or invaded conventionally. The aftermath of these interventions often can require decades, if not centuries, of terraforming by both Azeroth herself, the Elemental Lords of multiple planets, and the Citadel’s Restoration Division, before the planet is deemed safe for life.

Azeroth also maintains a large number of Avatars throughout Citadel space, as “extensions” of her true self, besides her troll Avatar. These Avatars are mostly responsible for serving as the guardians of Azerothian settlements on other planets, heavy combat units in the Citadel military, and criminal investigators for crime rings (due to Azeroth being effectively immune to assassination or politicial dissuasion). It is also theorized by some that she has started “gifting” fragments of her power to Azerothian children, in order to establish a bond between herself and them.

Many new Azerothian settlements also have likenesses of Azeroth in them, in the form she takes for whatever species are living there. They are often given a place of honor in the settlements, and many religious institutions possess one as well.


	6. Rise of the Confederation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Details the rise of Azeroth's third superpower.

_ I, at times, feel sorry for some other races. Those who do not know their gods - who have not seen those who, in the scheme of existence, are stronger than us. They put their faith, their hope, in something that they do not know exists - something they only believe in because of their faith. _

_ I have never needed faith in the Earthmother to know she exists. I have seen Her with my own eyes, and seen Her will. And I have seen firsthand how deep Her love runs for all things, no matter how small or how great. _

_ Perhaps that love is the truest test of whether a god is worthy of worship. And I have known for my whole life that She is. _

_ Unknown Tauren Adventurer, Azerothian military. _

  
  
  


The Confederation was originally formed by the sand troll Ji’Alaki (the mortal Avatar of Azeroth) after the fall of the League “Of EVIL” and the proto-dragon progenitor Galakrond, and the deaths, escape, or capture of the League’s leadership. 

A turning point was when Ji’Alaki - who still did not fully understood who she was - saw how the kobolds who had served in the League were given poorer treatment than the other former members, such as orcs or ethereals, due to how they were viewed as “less intelligent” than other races. The not-yet fully aware sand troll/titan decided to see if she could find a way to improve the lot in life of the “lower” races, as many saw them.

Her first attempt at working as an ambassador - to the kobold mound where Toggwaggle had ruled before he was ousted by a team of adventurers - was met initially with failure. While the kobolds were no match for her in battle, and swiftly stopped attacking her, none of them were willing to listen to her when she made overtures of peace and cooperation. 

This changed, however, when one of the older kobold waxomancers spoke to Azeroth, telling her that the kobolds would not trust her as an outsider. And that the only way for them to trust one who was not a kobold was to prove themselves worthy by “doing something worthy of the candle.”  Shortly afterwards, Ji’Alaki was sent to the deepest part of the kobold mound, where the edges of civilization brushed up against things best left undisturbed.

Kobold folklore states that the end of the Darkness that had haunted them for so long was heralded by a burst of light that lit up the entire tunnel system that ran under Azeroth’s surface, from Elwynn Forest all the way to Redridge.

With a large portion of the kobold species now giving her a deep respect reserved only for their rulers typically, Ji’Alaki started attempting to uplift them further, teaching them how to use industrial methods, knowledge of magic, and social advancement. Two years after her arrival, she departed at the age of twenty-two, with several new followers. The rest of the kobold species would develop similar respect for her as those followers went to their own caverns, and started educating them as well. It has been theorized that part of the reason for the rapid success of Ji’Alaki’s attempts to uplift the kobold race was due to her Titan magic unconsciously leaking out from her, and spreading to those that she spent time with, who in turn spread it to the kobolds they visited and uplifted (similar to the Gorlocs of Sholazar Basin).

Ji’Alaki would clash with the League multiple times in her attempts to uplift the “lesser” races of Azeroth, with these encounters typically ending in her favor and earning her the undying hatred of the League’s leaders. This was largely due to the League’s “pool of recruits” drawing heavily from the same populations that Ji’Alaki was attempting to teach and uplift - species such as murlocs, kobolds, gnolls, saurok, and troggs, among others. Attempts by the League to motivate their would-be troops with promises of revenge against those who oppressed them and saw them as lesser grew less and less successful over time, as the Confederation’s influence spread to other races that were being swiftly uplifted. As this took place, multiple assassination attempts were made on Ji’Alaki’s life. None succeeded.

Ji’Alaki fully “awakened” as Azeroth’s main avatar roughly five months after her twenty-ninth “birthday”, culminating roughly a decade of work with a massive boost to her social and political reputation and that of the Confederation. The end result of this was her turning an collection of races that were previously ridiculed and poorly treated into an organization capable of challenging either the Alliance or the Horde in an open war, even without her assistance.

With her new political status, Ji’Alaki/Azeroth was able to help negotiate an end to most of the skirmishes between the Alliance and the Horde, and reach out to many of the remaining races that had not yet been uplifted by the Confederation, or had not joined the Alliance and the Horde. More than a few members of the races who had joined the Alliance and the Horde also departed their respective factions to join the Confederation during this time. It is notable that in the case of the Horde, the negotiations between Azeroth and Baine Bloodhoof allowed for dual citizenship between the two superpowers.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Azeroth rose to prominence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't really gotten into the Mass Effect side of things too much yet, huh? Well, here's the start of that particular plot line.

In the galactic scene, Azeroth’s rise to prominence in the political and magical worlds is seen by many as meteoric, a clear contrast to the amount of time spent by the planet’s residents as a pre-spaceflight civilization. Azeroth’s population, even with the record-breaking number of sapient races found on a single world and several decades of recovery, has one of the lowest total population counts of any of the Citadel’s member states.

Some people, as a result, question the meteoric ascent of Azeroth through the ranks of the Citadel, and have attempted to frame this ascent as assisted unnaturally by malignant intent for other species, and the subsequent heavy-scale progress and assistance Azeroth has sent to other races, both militarily and physically, as "poisoned".

There are a number of factors behind the unparalleled ascent of Azeroth’s peoples to the near top of the sociopolitical status chain, despite having less than five decades of space exploration behind them before their first contact with the batarian race.

The Titan:

The list of Azeroth’s differences combat-wise from the standard recently-arrived planet, like many other things, start and end with the Titan that bears the planet’s name.

Azeroth, shortly after her first meeting with the Citadel Council (at the time, the counselor positions were held by the asari, vorcha, and inusannon races), was granted Spectre Status in the Citadel’s military, the first Azerothian to be granted such an honor, and in the decades after first contact she has become known as effectively the Spectre’s - and thus, the Citadel’s - trump card in positions where combat is unavoidable. 

Stealth and Small Unit Mastery:

Azeroth’s militaries, over time, have developed numerous magical spells, artifacts, and munitions designed to be used effectively as anti-group warfare tactics, often as a response to the overwhelming numbers their adversaries possessed (this became especially true after the advent of the Scourge and the Burning Legion’s second invasion). 

Azeroth’s militaries tend to resemble those of the Asari Republics and Salarian Union most - small teams of elite forces specializing in stealth, sent into specific areas to do the maximum possible damage to the enemy force before retreating. Unlike most asari and salarian task forces, who tend to rely on a relatively small number of “classes”, Azerothian small unit tactics are almost impossible to clearly predict, often depending on the specific races that are sent in for that operation (and even Azerothian operatives from the same race and “class” can vary greatly in their tactics and specialties). The measures one must take to confront a hunter specialized in marksmanship and one specialized in partnerships with animals can be very different.

There are numerous rumors of the asari and salarian militaries starting new training and recruitment regimes, dedicated to making their militaries more flexible in a manner akin to the Azerothian forces, but it is expected a full overhaul may take decades.

Training and Average Azerothian Soldiers/“Adventurers”:

One of the greatest advantages that the average Azerothian small unit member tends to possess is sheer depth and range of experience and knowledge in fighting enemies. Even without the Burning Legion and Old Gods taken into account, Azeroth is infamous for having wildly different wildlife and climates from area to area, often in flat defiance of the climates found in such latitudes and longitudes on other worlds (the Titan Azeroth is often given credit/blamed for this). As a result of this, the vast majority of Azeroth’s “senior” military combatants from the Era of Warcraft, and many of their students from the years afterwards, have knowledge on how to fight in nearly every terrain found on most worlds, against nearly any kind of opponent, and how to adjust quickly or what tactic might prove most efficient (along with stealth skills that are often seen as advanced by other races even within non-rogue combatants).

Unique Magical Branches:

The Death Knights and Demon Hunters of Azeroth have long been two of the most controversial groups and topics of the world in question, both on and off it. While the Death Knights have had their lives and mental health restored by the Pools of Power in Pandaria for several decades, the decision by many of them to continue practicing their powers granted by the Lich King was seen as questionable. However, in the end the argument that won was “better to know what they can do so that our enemies don’t learn it first” was given the most credit. While raising ghouls or other undead remains a capital offense in many places on Azeroth due to the world’s memory of the Scourge, raising the members of the Ebon Blade back into undeath to be “cured” with the use of the Pools of Power remains a gray area for many, that is argued over to this day. However, raising someone into undeath remains a major offense on every planet within the Citadel’s aegis, and has for most of the Citadel’s existence. 

The Demon Hunters are also unique to Azeroth, for numerous reasons - among them, that no known race has ever thought to utilize fel magic by imprisoning demonic magics within oneself (or didn’t see it as worth the risk).

While there are many who believe that at least one other race within the universe must have created a Demon Hunter like magical branch at some point, a dark but generally accepted argument is that any race who did was likely targeted by the Burning Legion for extermination.

Diversity of Machinery and Magic:

While most of the races in the Citadel have practitioners of every "class" in it, it is generally accepted that every race has "specialties" in their lines of thinking and preferred magical fields. While this belief holds true even on Azeroth itself, the planet in question's many sapient races also meant that there were far greater levels of interracial communications and beliefs being spread between the populaces of the world, both magical and otherwise.

As a result, many of the inventions or techniques that were "created" or attributed to a specific race, on Azeroth, were cross-examined not only by those who thought in similar terms and beliefs, but very different ones. As a result, new lines of thinking were known to emerge more often, leading to further developments in areas that might have been missed by a single interracial "psychological blind spot."


	8. The Creation, Destruction, and Evacuation of Draenor.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened on Draenor, and what is happening to its people.

Draenor, or Outland, is one of the darker moments in the history of Azeroth, and is generally viewed as a prime example for the third worst-case scenario for second contact. (Second and first place are given to the Burning Legion and the Old Gods respectively - which is worse remained a point of contention until Sargeras was imprisoned and the Legion’s leadership mostly disbanded or killed).

The initial orcish invasion - later referred to as the First War of the Era of Warcraft - ended with the sacking of Stormwind, the human capital of the kingdom of Azeroth and the deaths of many. This would result in the direct leadup to the Second War, which would involve the other populations of the Eastern Kingdoms to a far greater extent, and ended with the defeat of the Horde. Draenor itself was later nearly ripped apart by the orc chieftain Ner'zhul, who created numerous portals in an attempt to make passage to other worlds (an event that would directly lead to him falling into the hands of Kil'jaeden).

The “second instance” of these events, taking place 31 years later in Azeroth’s time, had very different results.

The creation of the “second” Draenor was initiated by the actions of a rogue orc - specifically, the escape of Garrosh Hellscream from his trial in Pandaria, and the creation of an alternate timeline containing the world of Draenor with the aid of the bronze dragon Kairozdormu, with the starting point diverging from Garrosh’s arrival approximately 35 years before the trial. 

Setting out to prevent the fel corruption of the first Horde, Garrosh was able to convince the alternate timeline version of his father, Grommash, of the truth of his words, and what the consumption of the blood would lead to, while at the same time pulling him from the vision before he could see the rise of the New Horde and Garrosh’s own actions before he fled to Draenor. This convinced Grommash to start approaching the other orc leaders in secret, and releasing the blueprints and technology that Garrosh had brought with him and his allies, to lead the orcs away from the Burning Legion.

The Iron Horde quickly became a technological powerhouse, with large portions of Draenor falling under their domain, and most of the orc clans joining them, tempted by either the promise of a stable society and great power, or being threatened into joining for fear of their lives.

Garrosh’s influence would later partly convince the orcs of the Iron Horde to begin an invasion of Azeroth itself, an event that would turn the tide for the other inhabitants of Draenor. After most of the Iron Horde on Draenor had their home territories and soldiers destroyed by the forces of Azeroth, most of the non-combatants surrendered peacefully. The majority of the Iron Horde’s remaining soldiers, however, refused to give in to the initial overtones of peace, and would ally themselves with the Burning Legion in an attempt to emerge victorious, swearing allegiance to Gul’dan as their new Warchief. After the capture of Grommash Hellscream by the Fel Iron Horde, the few remaining uncorrupted soldiers of the Iron Horde mostly either laid down their arms to surrender to the forces of Azeroth and the draenei, or turned their blades against their former comrades, with or without Azeroth’s aid.

After the conquest of Hellfire Citadel, arguments over what to do with the remaining orcs of the Iron Horde were mostly short-circuited by the Third Invasion of the Burning Legion, and the resulting call to arms went up across Azeroth itself and both Draenor and Outland, wherever aid could be spared.

After the final conclusion of the war with the Burning Legion and the death of Argus the Unmaker, the freeing of the Titan Pantheon, and the imprisonment of the Dark Titan Sargeras, most of the issues between Azeroth and Draenor had been forgotten by their populaces at large, with wide-scale celebrations taking place across both worlds as the war ended. 

However, when the bronze dragonflight first sent a true “inspection” team into the timeline of Draenor to see what issues there might be, problems became immediately apparent. The timeline, in effect, consisted of Draenor alone. While the actions of Kairozdormu had led to its initial stability, the world was effectively alone in its own pocket universe, and had been invaded by the Burning Legion of the “main” Azeroth. Moreover, it had not been made to last - it was rapidly estimated that, within the next 100 years in that timeline, the world would effectively start to fall apart, and in time would become “subsumed” by the main universe it was connected to, killing all life on Draenor.

After this fact was revealed and conclusively proven, panic ensued. Many of Draenor’s residents attempted to set out for Azeroth itself via the Dark Portal or other methods, and given the hostility of many of them, had to be repelled by the Alliance and the Horde (the Confederation had not been formed yet). Large-scale efforts were swiftly made to begin an ecological and biological “evacuation” to Azeroth, with massive numbers of plants and animals being transplanted between the two worlds, and many of the non-hostile entities and elementals departing swiftly, to settle on Azeroth itself. (The chief Furies of Draenor, after the war with the Old Gods was finished, have often found themselves at odds with the native elementals of Azeroth, though the Fire and Air Furies took command of the native of Azeroth due to the deaths of Al’Akir and Ragnaros as well as their chief lieutenants).

While Draenor remains inhabited, it is far less so now than it was, due to it being common knowledge that the world is living on borrowed time. All of the native sapient populations have long-term relocation programs to Azeroth in place, with the crowning moment of this effort being the mass “transferral” of the draenei burial grounds of Auchindoun to Azeroth.

The Breakers, Primals, and ogres of Draenor were initially resistant to the efforts made to evacuate them, till the arrival of the Titan Azeroth, who was able to uplift the less-intelligent ogres to the same level as their wiser kin and the orcs, and in the case of the Breakers, appeal to their ancestral memories of the Titan Aggramar and Grond. The Primals, upon recognizing the ancestry of Azeroth and her connection to the Breakers, launched a massive assault in an attempt to destroy her. The entirety of the Primals, in time, were either forced to swear loyalty to the new way of life found on Azeroth, and have become more like Azeroth’s spirits of life, or were crushed without mercy.


	9. Batarians

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first race that the people of Azeroth native to the planet encountered after leaving their planet for a true space age... due to personal reasons, didn't get along with them at first.

_“WHAT DO YOU MEAN,_ **_‘THEY’RE ON OUR SIDE’?!?!_** _”_

Multiple residents of Azeroth, including Azeroth herself, to the other Citadel races at the end of the First Contact War.

The Batarian Demarchy is generally considered one of the most bizarre nation-states in the Citadel, for a variety of reasons.

The practice of Demarchy, for instance, a form of government where every citizen in the nation can be randomly selected to government for a time, one that typically has the citizen in question selected for a period of time that lasts three months on average. The residents of the three Chambers of Assembly are selected for this period at random by lottery, and often a requirement is made for major laws passing to be approved by at least 60% of the residents of each chamber for two months in a row.

Batarian law is generally seen as far more flexible and open to interpretation than the laws of all other Citadel Races, enough that non-lethal duels are still seen in some areas as a genuine way of settling debates between lawyers and clients. Or if one or more of the two duelers is a major criminal, a way of bypassing the justice system in favor of swift death.

Most other races - or at least, their politicians - claim that the major decision-making processes should be left to those trained in the area in question, not quite literally anyone off the street. The process of selection also holds the potential of being tampered with, something that has been pointed out numerous times by both batarians and non-batarians. While the Demarchy often has had draconian laws passed by a conspiracy slipping past the anti-tampering mechanisms, any true long-term damage has been often averted preemptively or undone before too much time passed - often thanks to the dueling process.

  
  


Shadowseers: 

While nearly every other Citadel race considers the usage of Void magic to be effectively blasphemous, the batarian Shadowseers, due to their race’s unique connection to the Void, are the only race in the Citadel capable of commonly drawing on Shadow or Void magic without the typically associated loss of sanity and morality, something they tend to use as an advantage to foresee the actions of the Reapers before they can fully carry out their plans. Multiple worlds have been saved by the Shadowseers being able to peer into the Shadow to be able to “connect” with the source of the Old Gods - and use the same source to see the potential paths of their plans.

  
  
  


Nyali’ha

The Guiding Dark. The Shadegiver. The Shadow of Order.

Of all the member races of the Citadel, Nyali’Ha alone ensures that the Batarians will likely be forever counted as the one of the most suspicious of the Citadel’s members - even if her assistance has proved invaluable countless times. Regardless, a long-standing decision by the Council upheld by every succeeding group holds that all individuals near or past a certain threshold of power are to be observed to some degree at all times - those who in Azerothian terms would be referred to as max-level adventurer tier combatants.

Nyali’Ha, as the only known Old God to ever forswear the ways of her darker kin, is the single being furthest past that threshold besides (in the most recent galactic “cycle”, for instance) a handful of Volus Fury-Ascendents, the Turian Hierarchs, a few Asari Matriarchs, the oldest and strongest Krogan Battlemasters and Shaman, the Rachni High Queen, Geth “Consensi” typically involving more than 10,000,000,000 separate runtimes working in tandem, the oldest dragons (referred to as “Aspects”) and the Draenei leader Velen.

After landing on the batarian homeworld of Kar’Shan in the distant past, Nyali’Ha was responsible for the creation and uplifting of the batarian race after finding the planet to be entirely uninhabited and already heavily influenced by shadow magic.

The process that led to her creation of and granting sapience to the batarian species and turning away from the typical methods of the OId Gods has never been disclosed, and remains shrouded in theories and conspiracy to this day.

Nyali’Ha rarely involves herself directly with the running of the Demarchy, mostly being content to leave it to her descendents. Her time is mostly spent wandering the Citadel’s various planets in various disguises. There are no less than eight separate investigation groups dedicated solely to keeping an eye on her movements at all times, and numerous conspiracy theories state there are more than three times the openly stated number in secret. This is before her numerous “worshippers” are taken into account, trying to follow the beings suspected to be her across the galaxy in the hope of meeting their goddess.

Nyali’Ha’s original Old God(dess) form is currently unknown - there are numerous depictions of her in batarian art and culture, but all are dissimilar, and there is no 100% concrete binding theme between them. Due to her heavy emphasis on freedom, as well as its consequences, it is possible that she simply chooses to change her form depending on her preferences at any given moment.

Her abilities are for the most part known to be responsible for inspiring the magical practices of most of the batarian species - a combination of nature/life/death magic, mixed in with her devastating command over shadow magic. In modern terms, this would identify her as a mixture of a shadow priest on par or stronger than Velen is in the Light, and an Archdruid on par with the likes of Demigods such as Cenarius, with the powers of Kel’Thuzad thrown in for good measure. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is just meant as an intro of sorts. I have a bunch of ideas for Space Age Warcraft/Mass Effect, and while I doubt I will write a story (I have enough on my plate with A Pink Planet), I'm happy to get this out there.
> 
> And if you want to come up with your own ideas for this or write something based on it, feel free!


End file.
